Hail our mothers: Single mothers share their stories
The whole world celebrates Mother’s Day with full of enjoyment, respect, gratitude and devotion towards mothers to show their appreciation towards mothers and mother figures. It is an annual event but held on different dates in the calendar, depending on the country.
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Different countries have different dates as well as different ways of celebrating Mother’s Day. Countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, India, almost every country in Europe and many other countries, including Ghana, celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in the month of May.
This year, to celebrate the event, the Women’s Page of the Daily Graphic decided to interact with some single mothers, to find out how they cope with life and what they expect from society. Below are the stories shared by those interviewed by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho and Salomey Appiah.
For the past 19 years, a cosmetic seller in Accra, Madam Georgina Adatsi, has been the breadwinner for her household.
Georgina, as she is affectionately called, is a single mother of four children who are aged between 29 and 22, and is looking forward to the celebration of this year’s Mother’s Day, with a lot of enthusiasm.
She said though it had not been easy taking care of her children single-handedly, “I am comforted when the children, the eldest, who had completed tertiary education, with the rest also in the university, shower gifts and love on me after we meet to cook and eat together to celebrate the day”.
She said her church also celebrates with mothers by praying for them and wishing them a happy Mother’s Day.
Ms Mary Adwoa Arthur is a tea seller at Tudu in Accra. To her, Mother’s Day comes as one of the normal celebrations on the country’s social calendar.
A single mother of one, Adwo, as she is affectionately called by her customers, has been taking care of her 13-year-old daughter since she was born.
To her, being a single mother should not deter anyone from celebrating such a day.
According to her, the most important thing is for single mothers to find other sources where they could make themselves happy.
“On Mother’s Day, I go to church and socialise with other mothers. Our pastor’s wife also celebrates with all the mothers in the church by presenting gifts to us,” she said.
“I feel satisfied and my joy knows no bounds when my daughter calls me to wish me a happy Mother’s Day,” she added.
Ms Vivian Tawiah, a 47-year-old businesswoman, is a proud mother of a 26 -year-old university graduate who is working in one of the reputable institutions in Accra. According to her, the journey was not easy as a single mother.
“Her father got sick when she was in junior high school and could no longer support her in school. I invested every penny I got from my chop bar business and a small provision shop in her education,” she said.
When the time came for her daughter to continue to the university, she said it was a tough decision considering the financial pressure it was going to put on her. But with determination and hard work, she said “I was able to support my daughter through to university with the same businesses”.
“I look at my beautiful daughter today and I see that my sweat and struggle did not go waste. Single mothers should not give up, they should invest the little they have in their children and they will reap in hundred fold,” she advised.
Narrating her ordeal as to how she became a single mother, Ms Millicent Ampomah Oware, a 51-year-old trader, said she got pregnant six months after her marriage but her husband got angry with her for conceiving too early in their marriage.
He, therefore, asked her to abort the pregnancy which she refused. After her husband had given her money for the abortion, Ms Oware said she used part of the money to buy items for the upkeep of the unborn child, and the rest to start some trading.
“My husband vowed to make life miserable for me and my child for disobeying him. He made me suffer,” she said.
“I thought he would change after having two other male children with him, one of who died, but he never took care of them. The treatment he meted out to me emboldened me to work harder to take care of my children.
“I had to engage in petty trading to take care of them and give them the best of education. I sold kenkey and other stuff just to make ends meet,” she said.
Currently a pure water distributor, Ms Oware says she is a proud mother of one of the best photographers in the country, Nana Akua Boatemaa (Akiboat), the first child who was to be aborted and a fire officer with the Ghana National Fire Service.
“When I see the works of my daughter and where she has got to and that of my son, I can only be grateful to God. If you are a single mother, seek God and He will help you with whatever you have in your hands to take care of your children”, she said.
Her father believed in education but he did not have much money to help her further her education to the university after her secondary level.
Consequently, Hajia Ayshiatu Salifu, 54, trader, made a promise to ensure that all her children would pursue education to a higher level.
Therefore when there was no man to support the six children, she said she used her secondary education certificate to get a job.
Earnings from the job and the rent advance from a building bequeathed to her by her father, she said, were what she used to take care of the children.
“Considering the environment in which we lived at Nima Mamobi, I tried to raise my children with decent values, healthy habits and skills by which they would succeed”, she said.
Her heart’s desire has been fulfilled as all her children are pursuing their dreams in various fields. She has an accountant, a journalist, an architect and a marketing officer, while the last two are pursuing their university education currently.
“My children are following their dreams now and all I can do is to continue praying to Allah for continuous guidance and protection as they keep standing tall in their field of work,” she said.
